Afghan presidential challenger wants results held

By HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writer

KABUL – The leading challenger in Afghanistan's presidential vote urged electoral officials Saturday to stop announcing preliminary results because of "highly suspicious numbers" in tallies released so far.

Results from the Aug. 20 election have been dribbling out alongside a torrent of complaints of ballot box stuffing and voter intimidation. International and Afghan observers have been critical of the vote but have held back judgment until counting and fraud investigations have finished.

Partial results from 60 percent of polling stations show President Hamid Karzai ahead but still shy of the more than 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff.

Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said that the tallies released so far show suspicious figures, with a number of stations posting nearly identical numbers for Karzai and none for any other candidate. Abdullah said those numbers were "highly suspicious" and indicate that the electoral commission is not holding back votes from areas where complaints have been filed.

The electoral commission has said it is only announcing "clean votes," not reporting those that suggest ballot-box stuffing or other fraud.

Abdullah has previously alleged fraud on the part of the Karzai administration and said that electoral workers, appointed by Karzai, are partisan to the president. He said the latest tallies are proof that the system is rigged.

"It is state-engineered fraud. It is not violations here and there," Abdullah said. "I request the electoral commission not to announce the provisional results anymore because it's fraudulent."

In eastern Paktika province, six polling centers showed hundreds of votes for Karzai, with none for any other candidate, Abdullah noted. Karzai has strong support in the province, where the majority of people belong to his Pashtun ethnic group, but Abdullah said it was highly unlikely that not a single person cast a ballot for one of the more than 30 other candidates.

"The commission has done its best to be impartial and prevent any fraud," the Independent Electoral Commission said in a statement responding to Abdullah's allegations. The statement did not directly address the charge of statistical irregularities in results and officials were not available for comment.

A separate, U.N.-backed complaints commission is supposed to act as a check on the electoral commission for these types of allegations, but Abdullah said that group is working too slowly.

The latest countrywide results released Thursday show Karzai with 47 percent and Abdullah running second with 33 percent.

More had been scheduled for release Saturday, but the electoral commission said early in the day that it was delaying results. Abdullah said he had made an appeal directly to the commission but did not say if the delay was due to his request.

Abdullah said he would not call his supporters out in protest if the request is not met, but warned that they may take action on their own if they feel they are being cheated.

"I still urge our supporters to stay calm, but people's patience will run out someday," Abdullah said.

Voting day itself was marred by Taliban attacks that killed dozens. Turnout was low amid the violence and threats of recrimination against voters.

Abdullah called on international bodies and foreign governments with troops in Afghanistan to push more strongly for a quick and thorough investigation of fraud. He said attempts to look past allegations in the name of preserving calm were misguided.

"If a leadership is imposed on people based on fraud ... this in itself is a recipe for instability," he said.